No acquittals for 10yrs

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
ABOUT 168 State agencies and organisations have not submitted their financial acquittals for nearly 10 years, says Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Aiye Tambua.
Ten years of no acquittals amounted to 498 years of no financial statements (by the) 168 organisations, according to Tambua’s calculations.
From the 168, eight organisations were called in for a meeting with the PAC.
“As per the Financial Management Act, all government institutions, statutory bodies, all government organisations and any entity that receives funding from the Government are supposed to provide financial statements to the auditor-general,” Tambua, the Goroka MP, said.
“Over the years, some of this organisations have gone to sleep.
“We had a report from the auditor-general that there are 168 that have not provided their financials and this includes all provincial governments, statutory bodies and all entities that have received funding from the Government.”
He said they were bringing in those entities that had not provided acquittals over the last 10 years and working with them to find out why they had not done so.
“PNG has been known for issues of accountability and corruption and we cannot address this issue when entities are not providing key information,” Tambua said.
He said some organisations had legal issues while others had issues with the attorney-general.